January 23, 2014 Reinforced Hoop House

0700  Nope.

0715  Under protest.  Got up and let Lizzie out.  Coffee was already ready.  Drinking coffee and sitting with Peppermint.  She feels that I've been gone a very long time and she has missed me terribly.  Lots of meows.  Every. Time. I. See. Her.  She must have memory problems.  Probably from chewing on the computer.

I'm doing some shopping in a little while.  Jace has asked nicely for some horse liniment from Tractor Supply.  There could be a chance for some adventure there.

The real question here is why am I shopping today?  Because we're knuckleheads and I just saw the weather for tomorrow.  I thought this whole week was nothing but nice or a few clouds.  Turns out the Polar Vortex will be here tomorrow.  *Dum dum dum*(dramatic effect music)  I don't want to be out shopping tomorrow when the temps are freezing, possibly snow/sleet, and taking Rowan with me. 

Yesterday evening we added another layer of plastic across the roof of the hoop house for this event.  We're not sure of its' ability to stand up to sleet.  In a logical thought process I would think the heat generated inside the hoop house would melt any ice off the roof.

UPDATE:  I helped the warming process along this afternoon.  I ran an extension cord under the hoop house and connected a small heater.  I crawled around all the edges at the bottom of the hoop house checking for drafts.  I blocked them with scrap plastic, cardboard, wood and rocks.  I bought a thermometer at Tractor Supply and it's showing 49 degrees in the hoop house.  I'll recheck later to see if this is working.

 

Heater sitting on a cinder block to elevate it off the ground.  I'm nervous about the connection sitting on the ground so I tucked it into the hole of the cinder block.

 

 

Ye ole thermometer

 

 

 

 

I read on Garden Therapy a recipe for All Natural Orange Cinnamon All-Purpose Cleaner.  I made some and put it away.  I'll check back in a few weeks.  I also put it on my calendar and made a note of where exactly I put it.  Two weeks from now I may not remember.  "Great, it's ready.  But where is it?!"

Since the weather is so yucky there's a couple things I'm working on inside.  I'm making bread, even as we speak.  I do it the lazy way...in a bread machine.  I bought a bread machine at Goodwill a few years ago.  I don't really like bread baked in a bread machine, but it's wonderful to use just for making the dough.  Throw all the ingredients in and come back an hour later, shape some loaves, and bake in the oven.  Perfect homemade bread.

The other thing I have to work on is cleaning out the freezer, which I AM about to go do, for real.  I got a very good deal on some meat and I don't have room for it.  There's also a lot of stuff in our freezers (2 of them) that no one is ever going to eat.  I will get to eat homemade bread as a reward.